Faith Learned, Faith Lived: Help Students See Christ the Teacher

The Year of Faith is a celebration of our calling to follow Christ and how we can come to know Jesus in our commitment to the ACE community and Catholic schools. Our prayer is that we can learn to find Jesus in the ordinary and routine things of our lives. ACE Teaching Fellows calls men and women to live a simple life as teachers in Catholic schools.

The feast of Christ the King on November 24^th is the official end of the Year of Faith that was proclaimed in 2012 by Pope Benedict. In reality, this can be just the beginning of our extended explorations of faith—asking where and how our lives are connected to Jesus and where Catholic school educators can discover Christ present in their schools.

We have been called this year to reflect and come to a deeper relationship with Christ. I have been privileged to see this being worked out in classrooms by teachers and leaders who are dedicated to following the Gospel in this special ministry of Catholic education.

There are many ways in which we can look at what goes on in the classroom. I want to look at it through the lens of the Incarnation. Paul writes in Philippians 2: 5-7:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

These words are striking and remind us what Catholic teachers are called to be. They are called to look to Christ the Teacher as the model for what they do and how they approach their lives. This call and invitation reminds teachers to realize what they do is not about them. It is always about the students.

An experience reported by a first year teacher shows us this point lived out. The teacher and a student shared the same birthday. The student’s father had died a couple weeks before their birthdays. A mother of another student sent cupcakes to school for the teacher. The teacher appreciated this generosity. But he told the class the cupcakes and the celebration was for both the other student and himself. He thought about the student, which was a way of living the mission of Catholic education and recognizing Christ present in a birthday celebration. Being selfless and considerate is how teachers focus on the needs of students.

Jesus gave himself to us by becoming like us in all things but sin. It is the Incarnation that tells us we can discover God in our life events. Every moment of every day in every classroom, Jesus is present. If we understand this, we teach in a different way. We see that the students show us Christ and we are called to show them Christ.

The Incarnation, the presence of Jesus in our lives, invites us and brings to become Christ the Teacher. Let us pray that by this focus during the Year of Faith we will continue to live this mission.